|
 Located
in the central pavilion of the elaborate
sprawling Jai Niwas Garden, to the north of
the magnificent Chandra Mahal, is the
miniature temple of Lord Krishna. The idol
of Shri Krishna, originally kept in a temple
in Vrindavan, was installed here by Sawai
Jai Singh II, as the ruling deity of his
family.
Sri Govinddevji, the family deity of Amber's
Kachawaha Dynasty, now dwells in Jaipur,
along with his consort Radha. The image,
nevertheless, earlier existed in Vrindaban,
where the Lord resided in the great temple
built for him by Raja Mansingh, which was
consecrated in 1590 AD.
Govinddevji was symbolic of Mansingh's power
and became the focus of political
interaction of the Mughal Emperor and the
Kachawahas and, hence, an object of imperial
and royal patronage. In the end of the
seventeenth century, Govinddevji and Radha,
accompanied by Vrindaban's tutelary goddess,
Vrindadevi, were taken to the Amber
territory to protect them from damage by the
hands of iconoclasts.
It happened in the latter part of Emperor
Aurangzeb's rule when, with the impelling
grave condition of the Empire, regional
Hindu Kingdoms became increasingly self
assertive. Thus, that move from Vrindaban to
Amber, the patrimonial land of the
Kachawahas, also marked the Kachawaha
rulers' assertion of regional power and
identity.
Govinddevji and his consort eventually came
to reside in the palatial temple, in the
precincts of the City Palace of Maharaja
Sawai Jaisingh's new capital, Jaipur. The
rise of the deity to the status of a symbol
of regnant power also meant the rise of
Gaudiya Vaishnavism and the deity's
custodians to power in the Kachawaha
territory.
This is the most important and popular
temple, which is visited in thousands by the
devotees through out the year. |
